And There Was Their Journey
by chris8
Summary: Luc, Futch, and Sasuke go on an adventure together. Will the three bishounen be able to work together? Can Luc stand traveling with the other two? CHAPTER 19 UP(8.29.04)
1. The Journey has begun

Okay, I know Suikoden 3 gave a lot of new information about Luc, but I've decided to not use it.  So I'm just gonna spin my own story from where Suikoden 2 left off.  I don't like Suiko3.  That game gave me depression.

I don't own suikoden. 

And There Was Their Journey

Everything was different before the incident: where he lived, the people he encountered, and his life. Images of people dressed in robes came to his mind. The faces of the figures were obscured, except for a few, whom he had seen more than a few times to be able to memorize their appearances. 

He raised his hand and the figures that were walking about disappeared before him. His hand kept reaching into the darkness until it came in contact with a giant stone door, which lit up to reveal itself to the boy. 

Slender fingers traced the many curves carved onto its surface.

"This is where it all began."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Luc." 

Receiving no response, he called again. 

"Hey Luc, wake up. It's time to go!"

Emerald eyes opened to pull him away from the darkness of his mind. Luc wanted badly to squint at the intense light of the background, but instead he focused on the shadowed face in front of him. The shade under the tree obscured the other boy, but not enough so that Luc wasn't able to recognize.

"Futch."

Futch stood up from his crouch before Luc. He looked down with disapproval in his eyes.

"Geez Luc, if you're going to get sleepy, you shouldn't have kept watch. I told you last night to continue sleeping in the tent. Sasuke and I can handle it alone."

Pausing for a while, Futch decided to add something to mock the magician.

"Besides, what can you do with that flimsy rod when a monster attacks. It's always up to us with the sharper weapons."

The brunette finished with a grin on his face, but Luc chose to ignore the comment.

"Where's Sasuke?" he calmly asked while pushing himself up.

"Down by the river."

Futch watched Luc dust himself and bend down to get his staff. Standing up again, Luc brushed away some stray hair that had dropped down to his face. He looked at Futch's free hands by his sides and then looked up at Futch's face.

"Where's Bright?"

"With Sasuke…what?" 

The spear holder noticed the weird look Luc was giving him. After pondering for a while, he too, realized the problem of the situation.

"That wasn't such a good idea, wasn't it?"

Luc's continued staring mad him worry even more.

"C'mon let's go."

Futch quickly ran down the grassy hills as Luc followed more slowly. Taking his time through the patches of trees, Luc thought back to when he, Futch, and Sasuke started working together.

~~~~~flashback

Lord Riou had just returned from another one of his daily explorations. There were no important tasks for the moment and Leknaat had called for the three of them to meet up in an empty corridor of the castle.

"This is Luc." Leknaat motioned for Luc to step forward.

"Oh, we know who he is," Futch replied.

"Yeah, he's the one who guards the stone tablet." Sasuke pointed towards the direction of the main hall.

Leknaat gave a small smile. "Good, you know each other already." She paused for a moment. The three boys stood patiently.

"I have an important task for the three of you."

"The war, in which the three of you are engaged in, will end. And at a certain time after the war, you three are destined to have a long journey together. It is vital for you to be able to work together in this journey; therefore, it is best for the three of you to learn to work together now."

Futch was a little surprised. He was learning about something from his future after all. He looked at the other two he was standing next to. Seeing Luc hanging on to every word, he realized that it was the apprentice's first time hearing it too. Futch turned to look at Sasuke just as the ninja was about to speak.

"But how will we know when to start the journey and how do we know where to find each other?"

"I will send Luc to you two…when the time is ready."

Leknaat studied them for a moment. When she is sure they have no more questions, or at least they have no intentions of asking any questions, she disappeared.

Flashback~~~~~~~

Ever since that meeting, the three tried as much as possible to work together. They practiced together and eventually had their own unite attack. Even though it was hard working together with their differences, they still did it for destiny's sake. Now destiny had come for them and they were already well settled into their journey.

Luc ran through the last patch of trees. He came to a great open plain with a single river running through. Immeadiately, he spotted the two he was looking for. 

Already, the two companions were arguing with each other. Luc walked up to listen better for the problem, although he already knew it would either concern Futch's giving Bright to Sasuke to watch over or, as usual, about breakfast.

"What were you thinking?!" 

Futch protectively held his baby dragon away from the ninja.

"I was only going to put him in the shallow part of the water," Sasuke yelled more than stated.

"Don't you know that baby dragons can't swim?"

Luc was now standing in front of the bickering pair.

"I said I was gonna go in with him…and for god's sake, Bright is no baby anymore. How long have you had him? Years?"

Futch only held Bright more tightly. Then he replied, offended, "Only one year!"

Sasuke sighed. He decided to forget about it.

"Fine."

The three became very quiet for a while. Then Sasuke looked up and noticed Luc staring at them.

"Oh…ah, I got the boat ready so let's go."

Luc nodded and the three silently boarded.


	2. The Fight on the River

"Ohh. I'm so hungry. I thought we would make it to Radat for breakfast. What's taking so long?" Sasuke ended with a slap to his oar. The current was going in their direction, so the boys didn't need to row, which was a good thing. But it was already noontime and they still hadn't reached the port town.

"How about those "shortcuts" we kept taking?" Luc had emphasized the word to show his mistrust towards the branching streams Sasuke had insisted on going.

"I'm pretty sure those were shortcuts. If we didn't take those other ways, it would've taken even longer."

"A trip from Banner to Radat only takes 3 hours," snapped Luc.

"Well, maybe 3 people and one dragon made the boat heavier."

"It took Lord Riou and 5 other people 3 hours"

"…"

Luc paused and thought of something. "Don't you ever do things the common way?"

Now that the ninja was being asked about it, he realized that he doesn't.

"Well, it's hard, I mean, I was taught to do everything the fast way as a ninja."

Luc gave a sigh. It was apparent the wind mage hated traveling with the other two. Before the journey, he was used to warping to everywhere, but in the journey, Lady Leknaat had insisted that he used as little magic as possible.

"…"

Sasuke finally noticed Futch's silence. The young spear holder had been complaining about Bright's hunger a while ago. Sasuke was baffled by his sudden silence.

Futch was huddling by the edge of the boat. He was holding Bright with one hand and doing something with the other. Sasuke squinted to see what it was and saw Futch up something into Bright's mouth.

"You traitor!" 

Sasuke burst out, causing Futch to drop the chocolate bar he was holding.

"You had food and you didn't tell us?"

Sasuke grabbed the front of Futch's shirt. 

"But Bright is really hungry. I didn't even eat any myself. Besides, you don't even like chocolate and I had gotten this all the way from Matilda."

"I don't even know what chocolate is and I don't care as long as I can eat it," Sasuke pulled harder.

The argument was about to get violent when Luc called out.

"Stop it, you two. There's no time for this." 

The current had suddenly gotten very rough and Luc was standing while trying to hold on to the side of the boat. Luc pointed towards the front of the boat.

A giant sea monster had emerged from the river and was glaring down at them with bloodthirsty eyes.

"If we want to get to Radat, we'll need to defea—Ah!"

Luc had lost balance on the last rock of the boat. But before he fell into the river, Sasuke was already by his side, holding him up.

Futch quickly grabbed his spear and threw Sasuke his shuriken. He ran towards the front and motioned for Sasuke to follow.

"We'll go in the front to fight. You stay back and cast us some magic."

Luc nodded and began charging up the rune on his hand.

Futch and Sasuke fought, with occasional blasts of wind from Luc, but they were at a disadvantage, fighting from the tiny area of the boat. The two fighters were quickly weakened. Futch gritted his teeth while he clutched on to the spear that was holding him up.

"I don't know if I could take another blow."

Sasuke didn't say anything. He was in a just as worst condition. He was breathing heavily and concentrated on resting enough to jump and make another blow.

Bright howled from beside Luc as if asking for the magician to hurry up. Luc quickly raised his staff and a burst of light appeared.

"Shining Wind!"

Luc called out the spell's name. A tornado ruthlessly drilled through the sea monster as a warm light surrounded the three and healed their wounds. When the spell disappeared, the monster went along with it.


	3. Meeting Shu at Radat

The boys were stunned that they had finally defeated it. They remained motionless as the boat drifted into the port of Radat. They looked up when a clear voice called to them.

"Hey! You did it. You defeated the sea monster!"

And the voice was joined by numerous other's cheering. Futch, Sasuke, and Luc were confused. They allowed the townspeople to anchor their boat to the dock and help them off. People surrounded them and thanked them and patted them on the back.

"W..what's going on?" Futch had to shout several times over the cheering crowd before he was heard.

"You saved us. You're the heroes that were coming to defeat the monster!"

The statement was followed by several other's agreements.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sasuke roared over the resumed cheering. The noise quickly dropped down to whispers.

"What do you mean, heroes? We are just passing by."

Luc joined in, "We had no intentions of coming to help you. In other words, we are not your heroes."

The townspeople gaped at them and the cheerfulness was replaced by hints of worry.

"If you are not our heroes, then who did master Shu send to save us?"

The question was directed to the three even though they had no way of answering it.

"Excuse me, excuse me."

A pathway formed between the people as the said strategist passed through. Like the townspeople, Shu seemed surprised too when he finally saw the center of the attention.

"What are you three doing here?" was the first thing he said.

"Going on a journey," Sasuke replied.

"The three of you?"

Shu stared doubtfully, especially at Luc. Luc caught it and was about to snap back, but Shu quickly cut in. "Let us come over to my house and we'll speak there."

They agreed.

Sorry for the shortness. But I'm sort of going on vacation in the next few minutes. I'll come back Monday and type up the rest.


	4. The Real Heroes of Radat

As soon as they were seated, Futch and Sasuke began voicing out the questions they had in mind.

"What did they mean by "heroes coming to save them"?"

"What in the world was that ugly thing doing in the port's entrance?"

The two stared at Shu from across the table. Shu calmly replied, "I have sent for someone, formerly from the army, to come help out since the monster has been disrupting trade in Radat for the past few weeks. As for the sea monster…"

Shu turned from Futch to Sasuke. "It is not the last of it."

"People have reported about seeing an even larger sea monster of the same type in one of the nearby caves. I believe that it may be the mother of the monster by the port. If that is true, then there will be more of these monsters in the future."

"The townspeople can, barely, get rid of the monster by the port but I feel it is more important to take care of the mother. That is why I've prevented them from wasting their lives on the port monster and have called for several of our stronger warriors from the war to come."

The four sat contemplating for a while. Nothing moved other than the steam billowing from the four cups of tea. The whole room was quiet except for an occasional whine from Bright on Futch's lap.

Futch and Sasuke wanted to help Shu defeat the monster, but they were not sure, knowing that the other one would be even stronger. Finally, Luc broke the silence.

"Who did you send for?"

Apparently, Shu's last sentence interested Luc. Shu eyed the magician. 

"I called for Viktor and Flik."

"…" 

Luc was silent. He had been expecting a different answer, but his doubt answered his question. 

After all, Lord Riou had become sick of war and had retreated to a simpler life with his sister Nanami. But still, Luc thought, he could've become a great warrior.

Glaring at the boys while they had their eyes cast down, Shu retrieved the question he had been asking them.

"Why are the three of you having a journey…together?"

Futch and Sasuke shot their heads up as if they had an answer, but paused when nothing could come out of their mouths. They both slowly turned their heads towards Luc.

"Lady Leknaat simply said we needed to have a journey together."

"To where…?" Shu questioned.

Luc's eyes remained transfixed onto his cup of tea. He placed a finger on his chin. "We were never told to journey where…but so far we have been drawn to wherever fate needed our presence. I believe the significance of our journey may just be to cause some altering to the world for things to move on."

The whole room was silent. What Luc said was a bit confusing.

"So…in a way, you three are just having a trip drawn by…fate."

Shu concluded doubtfully. He wasn't used to saying something so unscientific before. 

The answer to their purpose was not perfectly satisfying, but the unmoving silence showed that they had accepted it. A small knock came from the open doorway followed by one of the townspeople they had seen before.

"Master Shu, there's a man outside who wants to see you."

'Just one?' Shu thought. 'I guess one of them can't make it.'

"Please show him in."

Shu turned back to the three boys at the table. 

"I guess the real hero of the people just arrived," Sasuke said.

Shu walked towards the doorway, ready to greet Flik or Viktor and give him his new mission. But he was surprised when he saw that the man was neither Flik nor Viktor.

"Klaus?"

Klaus meekly peeked into the room and looked up when he heard his name being called. He smiled to the four guys as a greeting as he carefully stepped in. Shu quirked an eyebrow and Klaus took it as a cue to start explaining.

"I'm sorry for the trouble, but Viktor and Flik were not at the headquarters," he paused for a moment for Shu to speak.

"Why's this? I just heard that the two were stopping by the headquarters as a break from their trip."

"Yes, but they had left again when your messenger came. If you had called a week earlier, they would've still been here."

"…"

Shu was silent.

"If you really need them, I can go check their old fort to see if they're there…although, I doubt they would be there."

Klaus looked at Shu, waiting for an answer. The strategist seemed to be really deep in thought. He finally let out a sigh as if he came to a conclusion. When he opened his eyes again, they were looking at the three at the table. 

The boys flinched, but most visibly Sasuke. They watched as Shu's proceeding figure grew before them until he could place his hands on the table.

"Can you three do it?"

Immediately, Klaus called from the other side of the room. "But Shu, they're only child..ren…" 

It was then that Klaus realized how silly that sounded and Shu knew exactly why. Ever since the strategist had met Riou, he had learned not to look down on children. Sometimes, even children can do things that were meant for adults.

Shu's unwavering stare remained on the silent trio. Futch was the first to speak.

"It's not that we don't want to do it, but we just need some more practice."

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed, "That last battle almost killed us."

"How much time do you think we have left?" Luc glared at Shu and directed his question to the strategist.

"Not much," Shu paused. "It will only be a matter of days before the mother finds out that her baby has been killed."

Sasuke quickly stood up, causing his chair to scratch loudly on the floor. He confidently looked at his other two partners. 

"Alright, what are we waiting for? Let's go train!"

Okay, I know that Luc's supposed to be bad tempered and arrogant, but he's my favorite character. And it's very hard to do anything bad to your favorites. So the only thing I can do is to make him quiet and strict. I really like Luc *heart*


	5. The Training

"No, no.  That's not where you hit it.  Aim for the throat," Sasuke shouted after slashing a monster at the neck.  He watched Futch difficultly pull his spear out of another monster's stomach as the spear-holder shouted back.

"How am I supposed to jab it with a spear?  It's hard to poke at such a small target!"

Futch didn't even look at the ninja once before he jumped back for another stab at the monster.  

Finally, Sasuke noticed the absent blasts of wind to their backs that completes their unite attack.  He took a look behind him at the magician.

"You know," the wind mage had a finger to his chin.  "I can make much stronger blasts if you two can jump out of the way."

"Stop fooling around.  We're in the middle of a fight!" Futch yelled in between his stabs at the other monsters.

Sasuke trotted up to Luc with a finger pointing at his own face.

"I can dodge it.  I'm fast enough if I use all my speed."

Luc turned his head to look at Futch, who was angrily walking up to them after having to finish the battle by himself.  Luc quickly raised a palm to the boy and sent a flying blast of wind at Futch's face.  

Futch had no idea what was going on.  His eyes grew wide and he rapidly ducked as a few of his hairs got slashed.

"What in the world is your problem?" Futch shouted wildly.

"You're the problem," Luc simply answered.

"Yeah, you're too slow for us."

Sasuke pointed a finger at Futch and grinned.

"We will need to increase your speed."  Luc uncrossed his arms.

"W…what?"

Before he knew it, several blasts were aimed towards his way, including at Sasuke who was already jumping for cover.  Soon the whole area was covered with speeding arches of white light and two teenagers trying to jump and dance their way about them.

~~~~~~~

"Gah…" 

Futch and Sasuke were heaving heavily on the ground.  They were exhausted after having to dodge those wind blasts for a whole four hours.

"You…" Sasuke vengefully stared up at the magician.  "You sent more my way on purpose!"

"You said they were easy," Luc said in between breaths.  He was exhausted too from using so much magic at once.  But he was content because his accuracy had greatly improved.

Luc leaned his head back against the tree.  The three were silent as they were catching their breaths.  A constant breeze was blowing against them.  The temperature had greatly dropped from the setting sun.

They said nothing until they heard a light snoring.  Luc opened his eyes.

"Aw man, he fell asleep."

Sasuke poked at the sleeping Futch beside him.

"We should be heading back to Shu's house," the boy stood and picked up his staff.

"Wait, who's going to carry him?" 

The ninja pointed at the boy on the grass.  Luc uninterestedly glared behind him.  He was already walking away with his and Futch's weapon.

"You can't expect me to carry him?"

Luc shook his head disapprovingly and turned his head back to the dirt path that leads back to Radat.

"Aww…!"

Sasuke whined, but he still bent and scooped Futch up onto his back.  He ran down the dirt path with Futch's head and limbs bobbing behind him.  He called out to his other companion.

"Hey, wait up!"

But Luc ignored him and continued walking.

Just in case if you're wondering where I got Sasuke's personality from, I got it from the Suikoden manga anthology Alliance.  There's this nice and long story about Luc, Futch and Sasuke, the three pretty boys, doing their thing.  Sasuke was really crazy in that story; Futch was really cute and Luc was just plain annoyed.  

And I really do recommend it, so go buy it!


	6. The Monster Must be Destroyed

The sounds of even breathing filled the guest room of Shu's house. It was midnight and exactly four hours have passed since Luc, Futch, and Sasuke had dragged themselves back to Shu's house and fell instantly asleep.

The dark room was peaceful and quiet until a loud scream and running footsteps could be heard from outside the window. Luc immediately woke up and peeked outside the window next to his bed.

The screaming man ran directly to Shu's door. It only took the flustered man a few knocks before the door was opened by Shu, who had heard the cries and had immediately came downstairs to check.

"Shu sure does get a lot of visitors," Sasuke, who had woken up, commented from behind Luc.

Luc glared at Sasuke for his joke. 

"This could be important. We have to go down and see."

Luc pulled off his blanket and scrambled to the edge of the bed. He put his feet down on the floor, but instead they touched the blankets that Futch was sleeping on.

'God,' Luc thought. 'Does he sleep through everything?'

"Futch," Luc called while he patted the sleeping boy's arm, but his effort gained him no response.

"That's not how you do it. Here, I'll do it for you."

Sasuke eagerly jumped off the bed to Luc's side. The ninja crouched so that he was only a foot away from Futch's head.

"Heeeyy! Wake up!"

Futch instantly shot up. Sasuke quickly pulled his head away with a smirk.

"W..what's going on?"

Futch was flustered and looked from Luc's disapproving headshake to Sasuke's smiling face.

"There's a problem with Shu downstairs. We have to go look," Luc calmly said.

He got up and walked to the door as the other two followed him. When they had reached the stairs, Shu was already handling the late-night visitor.

"Calm down first. I don't understand what you're saying. Here, have some tea first."

Shu turned towards the kitchen, but stopped when he saw someone coming out of it.

"I've got it," Klaus said while holding a small, steaming cup of tea with his hands. He carefully handed the shaking man his drink. The poor man took a few gulps and seemed to calm down.

"Okay, please start your story from the beginning."

Shu motioned for the man to sit down.

"I..I was taking a walk by the river, near that small farm by the town, when I saw this huge monster. It was bigger than anything I've seen before—even bigger than the one that used to hang out at the port. It was huge," the villager said while making a big circle with his arms.

"With tentacles and everything."

"Go on," Shu commanded.

"I ran back as fast as I could. The monster tried to get me, but I was too fast. I ran all the way here without stopping."

"Where is the creature now?" Shu interrupted.

"It couldn't get me so it crawled back into the old cave."

Shu looked up at the three boys who had already came down and were listening by the stairs.

"There is no time left. We must have the monster destroyed."

Shu's voice was hard. Klaus looked up worriedly from beside the frightened man. The three gave a solemn nod and wordlessly walked towards the door. Futch stopped beside Shu.

"Can you please watch Bright for me while I'm gone?"

Shu nodded and Futch walked on to join the other two.

Ah, I knew that was gonna happen. I should've mentioned that Bright was at Shu's house. Don't worry, I remembered this time.

Silly me, telling people to buy something without telling them where to buy it. I bought mine at a used bookstore so I probably took the only copy. There's a number of places to check online like jpqueen.com, sasugabooks.com, and japan-manga.jp. If you're going to a bookstore, the manga is published by Asuka Comics DX and the bookcover and binding are in pinkish red. And of course, the ISBN is 4-04-853348-7.

And yes, I've read your fic, SparkyKnight, ever since it had first appeared on ff.net. I'm a pretty avid Suikoden fan, you know. I used to check this Suikoden section everyday...well, not now since I'm busy writing.


	7. Fighting In a Cave by the River

Silence was between them as they walked down the riverside that was lit by the moon's light. The walked at an awkward pace as if they were unwilling, yet they still go knowing that they were the only ones who could do it.

Futch, who had been keeping his head down, looked up at the two boys that were walking ahead of him.

"Say…do you think we can…do it?" His eyes remained on his friend's back as he waited for an answer.

"Of course. …I don't know…maybe… it's not too late to back out."

Sasuke doubtfully looked to the magician walking beside him. He and Futch both know fully well that their practicing was not enough, but since they don't really understand their journey's mission, it was usually up to Luc to decide their decisions.

Luc lowered his head a bit and closed his eyes. 

"If this fight is truly part of our destiny, we will have to fight it sometime, no matter what."

Green eyes opened to bore straight into Sasuke's darker ones. "And there has been enough signs telling us that the time is now."

They stopped when they had reached a long and dark cave. Luc, Futch, and Sasuke looked into the cave for the monster, but the monster was nowhere near the entrance and the inside of the cave was too dark to see.

An awful smell was coming from the wet cave and the three knew exactly what that smell was—blood."

"Maybe Shu was right about there being no time left," Futch seriously said.

"It must have been eating sailors from the river."

Sasuke balled up his hands. All thoughts of turning back were casted away as the boys steadily entered the cave.

"It's too dark to see." Futch held onto Luc's shoulder for guidance.

"There is still some moonlight shining in. Just let your yes adjust a bit," Luc replied to Futch behind him.

"Ugh, I just stepped into a puddle," 

Sasuke shook his right leg before continuing walking. They turned a corner to a part of the cave where there's a single beam of moonlight shooting down from a hole in the ceiling. Luc and Futch were walking behind Sasuke until they saw him pass under the light.

Two sets of footsteps stopped sounding.

"Why did you stop?" the ninja asked behind him.

"Look."

Futch raised a finger to Sasuke's foot. Sasuke looked down. The bottom half of his pant leg was completely covered in red. It was the same leg Sasuke had stepped into a puddle. 

He was bewildered as he gingerly examined the blood on his leg. Futch stood by Luc as he watched Sasuke picking at his pant leg. He thought he saw some movement in the background and he looked up.

"Sasuke! Watch out behind you!"

The ninja turned around and quickly jumped away from a large object slamming down. Sasuke watched the floor get crushed under the moonlight. Futch and Luc hid their faces from the strong air currents sent by the monster's large tentacle.

"Let's start the fight,"

The spear holder told the magician before charging at the monster's body. Sasuke followed and he jumped for the monster's head as well.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Ugh!" Sasuke uttered as his body slammed into the cavern's wall.

"Healing Wind!" 

Luc pointed to the direction of Sasuke. Sasuke got into a kneeling position as the healing wind worked its way around his sore body.

"Is that enough?" Luc looked at Sasuke while he charged up his rune again.

"Yeah." 

The ninja nodded as he got up to start fighting again when all of a sudden, the monster let out a painful shriek.

"It's the eyes! It's the eyes!"

Futch kept shouting as he jumped down from the monster's wiggling head. The huge monster tried hard to cover one of its many eyes with a few of its tentacles.

"You have to hit it when its eyes open!"

Futch notified the two with open eyes. Luc looked from Futch's face to the squealing monster behind him. He looked at Futch again and nodded.

"Alright, he's off guard. Let's do a unite attack."

The two boys agreed and ran fast to the squirming monster, but a round eye had shot open and the thick tentacles blocked both Futch's and Sasuke's attacks in time.

'No," Futch thought. 'If he's not distracted enough, he'll be able to dodge Luc's attack!'

It was too late and the spear-holder had to jump out of the magician's way. Sasuke prepared to dodge for the magic attack as well when suddenly a white thing above him caught his attention.

An eye had just opened and the ninja remembered what Futch said. Instantly, Sasuke jumped towards the monster instead of jumping away.

"Sasuke! What are you doing?!"

Luc screamed as he used all his might to hold back the shining globe he was about to release, but the magician was only able to hold it for a few seconds before it shot off on its own.

Luckily, the ninja had jumped away just in time. The squealing monster was covering its injured eye and was completely oblivious to the deadly blast. When the light was gone, all that was left was the corpse of the monster's dead body.

Luc had dropped to his knees and was breathing heavily. Futch had ran to his side and was worriedly holding him by the shoulders.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold back magic?!" 

Luc angrily shouted at the ninja approaching him.

"Well the monster had its eye open and I didn't get hit anyways!" Sasuke yelled back.

"That is not the point. We were having a unite attack and you were supposed to do your part like you were supposed to!"

Green eyes glared as the magician gritted his teeth. Sasuke was staring with balled fists as well. Finally, Futch spoke up.

"I have to agree with Luc on this one. Everything was planned as a team and you can't go off doing things on your own—no matter what's the cause, but…" Futch turned to Luc. 

"Everything turned out okay and no one got hurt so why don't we just get out of here and leave it alone?"

"Fine," Sasuke crossed his arms.

"…" Luc got up without Futch's help.

~~~~~~~~~~

Klaus and Shu had not slept since the panicky man had entered the house. The man had left hours ago, after Luc, Futch, and Sasuke had gone out to pursue the beast. It was already early morning and white light was shining from the windows.

"I wonder how they're doing." 

Klaus looked up at Shu from where he was kneeling on the floor to feed Bright. Shu's face was calm, but Klaus knew that the strategist was just as worried as he was. 

Shu was not worried that they were children or that they think that they didn't have enough training, but he was worried about how the three were going to work together. 

Shu was just about to answer Klaus' question when suddenly, the baby dragon's head perked up from what he was eating. Shu and Klaus watched him scamper out the open door when they finally heard a calling voice.

"Bright!"

"Bright!" Futch called between two hands as he and his two companions walked up to Shu's house. When he saw the white dragon stumbling out, he ran up the rest of the way and caught Bright with open arms.

Shu and Klaus followed out to greet them.

"We'll be going now."

Luc stopped in his track upon seeing the strategists. Luc uninterestedly stared at the shocked look on Shu's face. Apparently, the strategist had not expected them to be able to complete the mission.

The magician turned around to go. His two companions did the same.

"Wait, aren't you going to at least wait until the townspeople wake up before you go?" Klaus called after them.

"No, just tell them for us that the monster's gone now."

Sasuke said before he trotted after Luc and Futch, who were already walking down the road.

"Goodbye!" 

Futch waved with his free hand before the three were out of hearing range.

"Do you think they will be okay?" Klaus walked up beside Shu.

"I don't know. Destiny ties the strangest people together sometimes," said Shu as the three boys' backs disappeared from his eyes.

This chapter felt so long so I avoided typing it for a while. But, new chapters may take longer from now on since I just lost this great and quiet writing place.

And if you're still looking for Alliance, try this site www.animebooks.com/genalman.html and please tell me if it works. 


	8. A Trap In the Mountains

Well, guess I'm back everybody.  I thought I should play Suikoden 3 first before continuing.  Now that I'm finished with the game and learned lots about Luc's past, I don't think I can use the information from it.  So I'll just continue this fic the way I had planned before.

~~~~~~~~~~

The three boys were taking a break in a large meadow.  A full six hours of walking has passed since they have left Shu's house.  Even though they hadn't gotten enough sleep last night, they all agreed that they have had too much excitement to be able to sleep.

"So, where are we heading from here?" Futch pointed down a path that leads between two faraway mountains.  "Should we go to Muse..," he moved his arm towards another path, "or should we go to Kyaro?"

Luc couldn't believe it.  They had taken some of Sasuke's "shortcuts" again and they ended up missing a whole town of Toto on their way from Radat.  They didn't even see Viktor's old fort.  If Sasuke had just stayed on the dirt path, they would've passed by something that would've given them something decent to eat.  For the last six hours, they saw nothing but grass.  It was only in the last hour that they had located a range of mountains and a forked path that leads to Muse and Kyaro.

"Oh oh, let's go to Muse!"  

Sasuke jumped up and down to show his excitement.  The other two easily complied since they were not sure which way they wanted to go anyway.

"I always wanted to go to Muse," Sasuke chatted along the way.  "I heard that the city's packed with people and all kinds of things to see.  But by the time I joined Lord Riou's army, Muse was already abandoned."

"Why didn't you go back when the war was over?" 

Futch asked as he walked beside Sasuke.  

"Almost everything went back to normal within a month."

"Nah, I was too busy in Rokaku and I started helping out in Gregminister by running errands for them."

"No wonder," said Futch.  "Luc and I had to go all that way into Toran Republic to find you."

They became silent for a while.  'But I wonder,' Futch thought to himself as they walked.  'Why would anyone be so excited about seeing stuff in Muse?…'  Sasuke had on a straight face, but he was really laughing on the inside.  

'Heh heh heh…finally, I can get that necklace that Kasumi-neechan was always talking about.  She'll be so happy when she sees it,' Sasuke thought to himself.  His joy was getting harder to control and Sasuke let a small smile creep up his face.  

They had reached a rocky part of the path and were walking slowly through the narrow road.  

"Apparently, this is not the main route to Muse.  The main way should be from going through Toto where we didn't need to pass by any mountains," 

Luc said it while glaring at Sasuke behind him, but Sasuke only ignored Luc.  

"Hey, since this isn't the main path.  Why don't we take some shortcuts."

Sasuke pointed up and moved his finger along the mountain ridges as he said, "We can climb across the mountains where there are less monsters or…" Sasuke pulled out a little black ball from his shirt.  "I can blow away some of the mountains' base to see if there are any caves that will lead us out faster."

When Sasuke was done only Futch with Bright was standing there listening to him.  Luc was ahead walking over the broken rocks and pebbles.  

The magician had not even stopped when he heard Sasuke say the word "shortcuts".

"Hmph."

Sasuke crossed his arms as he looked at Luc.  Then he spotted something.  The path that the magician was walking on was fairly rocky, but just several feet away from Luc's feet, there was a circular patch of dirt that remained awkwardly uncovered by pebbles.  The boy scrutinized the ground from where he was standing.  His suspicion was confirmed.  There was definitely something wrong with that spot.

"Hey Luc, I wouldn't go that way if I were you," Sasuke called as he started trotting up the bumpy road.  He had expected for Luc to stop but…

"No.  We are not taking anymore shortcuts!"

The ninja's statement only caused Luc to stomp faster.  

"No, wait!"

Sasuke ran past Futch at full speed to the other boy, but it was too late.

"Ah!"

Sasuke and Futch watched Luc's body disappear through a hole in the ground as a loud "thump" quickly followed.  They hurried over to see what happened.  A large hole was dug out of the ground and someone had carefully covered it with a dirt-covered piece of cloth, hoping to deceive the person that would step into it.  

Luc was lying on his side in the bottom of the hole.  He had curled himself up into a ball and was desperately holding onto his left ankle.  Even though Sasuke and Futch couldn't see the boy's face from where they were standing, they could both tell that Luc was in pain from the way he was shaking.

"Luc!"

Sasuke jumped into the 4-feet trap.  He kneeled and lightly shook the boy's shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

Luc turned hiss head over his shoulder and said through gritted teeth, "My ankle…!"  He let out a small cry before he quickly pulled his head back to his chest.  Seeing how much pain his ally was in, Sasuke immediately scooped the boy up.

"Help me get him out." 

Futch heard the ninja's command.  He placed his baby dragon on the floor and walked up to the hole.  Together, they pulled the injured magician out of the trap.  

Luc has been settled on the ground beside the trap.  He was sitting up, but was still grabbing on to his ankle and refused to look up.  Futch and Sasuke stood beside him.  They knew that Luc was hurt, but they didn't know how to help him.  They were worried; they were thinking and they didn't know what to do until…

"Hi there!"

A rough but friendly voice broke the tense atmosphere.  On the path in front of them, a stout and bearded man was looking at them.

"I see you've got some trouble.  Do you need any help?"

"Our friend twisted an ankle," Sasuke slowly answered by instinct.

"Well…" 

The tan-colored man rubbed a palm on the back of his neck.  "My house is just down this path in the mountains.  If we take him there, I'll see what I can do for him."

Futch watched Luc then Sasuke.  Luc seemed too occupied, with his head down, to be listening.  Sasuke nodded.  He saw Sasuke pick Luc up and follow the man.  Then he hurriedly scooped Bright up and followed as well.


	9. Did He Say Tea?

The man's home was a small cabin hidden right between two slabs of a mountain's base.  It was far from civilization, but it had all the furniture and equipment that a house of a village would have.  A boy sat on a chair in the middle of the house's single room.  A man sat across from him and was holding the boy's ankle.  Two other boys surrounded them and watched with intense eyes. 

"There."

The man settled Luc's ankle on the footstool after he finished putting some herbal medicine on it.  

"Don't worry.  It wasn't that badly twisted."

The magician had his head down so the man looked at Futch and Sasuke.  "He must've fallen into one of the bandit's traps.  They make a lot of those to trap carriages and rob trader's goods."

"It's a good thing I found you before the bandits did."  

The man pushed himself out of the chair. 

"I'll go make you guys some tea."

"Thank you."

Sasuke quickly responded.  He looked at the boy sitting in the chair.  Even though Luc had his head down, his body had stopped shaking and his shoulders were less tense.  He seemed much more relaxed and less in pain.

Luc hadn't said a word since they have taken him out of the hole, but Sasuke knew that Luc was just angry that he fell into a trap and had to let other people help him.  The magician really caused Sasuke to be worried.  The ninja hadn't been able to listen or think straightly since he had seen the magician in so much pain. 

He's been following the bearded man's commands ever though they've just met.  He doesn't even know if he could trust the man.  Sasuke normally would've thought that way, but for now, the most important thing is that Luc's okay.

Another layer of silence passed by them, nothing was said or heard other than the crackling of fire.  The man finally moved his eyes from the boiling pot to Futch's dragon.

"Say, what sort of creature might you be holding?"

The man said in a friendly tone.  

"I've seen all kinds of monsters around these mountains, but I've never seen anything like yours."

"Oh."

Futch snapped out of his thoughts and held up higher his baby dragon.  

"Bright is a baby dragon."

"Baby dragon!"

The bearded man seemed surprised and held his chin as if he was pondering something.  "You mean the same ones from the Dragon Knights that I've heard about?"  The tea was made and the man was walking over with the three steaming cups he had poured out.

"Yeah, that's right."

Futch replied as he placed Bright back on his lap so he can receive the cup of tea with his hands.  The conversation ended there.  Nobody seemed to be in the mood to talk.  Everyone was lost in their own thoughts.  

~~~~~~~~

'This is so embarrassing,' Luc thought, 'of all things, I have to get hurt by falling into a hole.'

'Sasuke told you not to walk up there, but you just wouldn't listen to him.'

'Ughh, that kid just angers me sometimes, but…'

'…I wonder why they're so quiet… wait a second, didn't I hear something about tea?'

'…'

'Tea!'

"No!  Don't drink the tea!"  

Luc suddenly blurted out from his former silent state.  Sasuke almost spitted out his tea from the shock, but didn't.  

It was too late.  The tea has already been served and emptied up by his thirsty companions.  Luc had known all too well—the story of how Tir McDohl and his party got tricked by the tea of some mountain bandits.  The story had been discussed quite frequently during his stay in the Toran Castle.  

Too bad Futch didn't pay attention to any of those things and if Sasuke had been born 3 years earlier he would have noticed.  When Luc first heard of this he thought he would never fall prey to such silly traps, but now it seems…

"Hey Luc, what did you mean by don't drink the tea?"

Sasuke finally spoke up after swallowing the mouthful of tea that he had almost choked on.  Luc didn't say anything.  There was no point in explaining when the ninja didn't even get the contents of his warning.  Sasuke held a hand to his head.  He suddenly felt drained of energy.  His eye-lids were becoming heavy.  The last thing he saw was Luc staring down at him with an annoyed look on his face, as if he had known what was going to happen.

A crash from the other side of the room caught the magician's attention.

"Futch!"

'Not you too…'  

Luc watched Bright nudging his unmoving master who had just collapsed onto the floor.  The only thing Luc hoped for was that Futch did knew about McDohl and his tea incident and had only pretended to empty his cup, but now it seems that Luc was just kidding himself.

"You'll pay for this."

Luc aimed his threat towards the smirking man who had been witnessing all this from the side.  He stood up to grab his staff, but the pain from his ankle caused him to stumble over.  He broke his fall by grabbing onto the footstool, but the man was already behind him.  Luc didn't need to turn around to know that the man was behind him.  The light from the fireplace was casting a big shadow around him of the large body of the man.

"Now why don't you just stay put."

Luc heard the man tell him with a mocking tone.  Then he felt an awful pain on his back where the man's hand had connected.  The last thing he heard before falling to the floor was the sound of Bright's panicking screams.  Then there was nothing but darkness.


	10. Trapped in the Bandits' Prison

Luc slowly blinked his eyes open.  The first thing he saw was a black stone wall.  It seems he has been sleeping sitting up with his side and head resting on the wall.  He clearly remembered what head happened.  His back still hurt on where the man had hit him.  Luc moved his legs to better position himself and, in the process, caused the chains around his ankles to rattle.

"Finally awake, huh."

It was Sasuke's voice.  Luc turned his body away from the wall to see clearly the rest of the room.  Where they were in was no room at all.  

Their legs were chained by the ankles to the walls of a tiny squared prison.  He and Sasuke were chained to the corners of one wall and Futch in the middle of the opposite wall.  The only light coming in was from a small window with bars covering it.

"Hey, how is your leg?"

The manacles around Luc's ankles were not too tight so it didn't hurt his ankle too much.  The medicine the man gave him earlier also helped him recover a bit.

"Fine."

Luc summed it all up with the one word.  'It seems Sasuke was doing alright if he's still in the mood to talk,' Luc thought, 'but what about Futch?'

Luc moved his eyes to the boy on the opposite wall.  Futch had his face buried into his arms and legs.  Upon closer inspection, the boy was not just silent, but was shaking with some small sobs escaping from him.

'He's crying…?' 

Luc had no idea why but he was starting to worry.

"What happened to him?" Luc asked Sasuke.

"It's Bright," Sasuke answered.  "The man and his bandit friends came by earlier saying that they're going to sell Bright to the Black Market."

Sasuke finished with a sigh and the whole room was quiet again except for Futch's small sobs.  

Luc couldn't believe it.  How could they have fallen so deeply for a bandit's trap?  How could he have fallen for such a silly trick?  Now that he thought about it, the man and his friends probably dug that hole too.  Luc was getting angry.  Everything was starting to tick him off and why is Sasuke being so calm about this?  'Isn't he usually the one that's the noisiest?' he thought.

"And why are you being so calm about it?"

Luc asked again, this time with an angrier tone.  Sasuke let out another sigh.

"It's not like we can do anything about it."

'At times like these a ninja has to remain calm and wait for the right moment to attack.'

Sasuke thought to himself, but it seems Luc wasn't getting any of this.  Hearing his reply only made Luc angrier.  He finally exploded.

"Of course you are so calm about this.  It's not like you were the one who got dragged into all of this because someone else was stupid enough to drink tea from a stranger!"

Luc had to shout 

"Hey," Sasuke said a bit more loudly, but not to the point of shouting yet.  "I'm still a ninja in training so I may not be able to sense every sort of danger around me yet."

Luc sighed in disbelief.  "You don't have to sense it to know that man was up to no good, especially when he served you tea."

Sasuke was a ninja in training after all.  He quickly forgot all about patience and endurance and exploded into a full blown argument with Luc.

"Well, if you had enough sense to listen to me, you wouldn't have fallen into the trap and we wouldn't have met that bandit!"

Sasuke was right, but Luc was too angry to listen and he hated to lose in an argument.  "If you didn't choose to go this way and to all the other shortcuts we took, we wouldn't have ended up here!" Luc responded.

Sasuke and Luc's personality were similar in that they both hated losing and it's perfect for fueling loud, long and senseless quarrels.  

"If we didn't go to Radat, I wouldn't have had to choose to go to Muse!"

"If we didn't need to pick you up all the way in Antei because you were fooling around instead of staying in Rokkaku, we would've made it to Radat before that monster problem and before those thieves made the trap!"

"I was not fooling around in Antei, I was running an errand for Kasumi…"

"Oh great, we were delayed because you were trying to please a girl."

Futch covered his ears.  He didn't want to hear any of this.  He was still sobbing and was worried sick about his Bright, but the argument refused to die down.  The two went on and on about each other's faults until, eventually, somewhere into the night, they stopped.


	11. Saved!

Alright, since this chapter was extended at a later date, those of you that read this chapter before, please scroll down a bit to where you see a lot of skipped space and a squiggly line.

The arguing had finally subsided and the three hadn't talked to each other since.  A lot of time has passed, but Luc wasn't sure how long.  He felt much calmer now after letting loose all his anger.  He felt a little silly for arguing with Sasuke again, but ever since their journey together started, the two have been arguing quite regularly.

"I wonder how much time has passed," the magician said quietly.

The voice broke the ninja's trance.  Sasuke had forgotten all about Luc and their argument, but instead was thinking of something else.  

He looked up at the small window.  Judging from the position of the moon, it should be around midnight.  The sun was just setting when he first woke up in the prison and it was somewhere in the afternoon when they had fallen into the bandit's tea trapping.

"I guess we've been in here for about ten hours."

"…"

Luc felt a bit relieved that Sasuke had forgotten about the argument and was still talking to him just like after all their other quarrels, but this time Luc felt a bit sorry since he was the one who started it.

"Sasuke."

"Yeah?"

"…nevermind."

'Maybe I'll apologize some other time,' Luc thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunlight broke into the uncovered window and shot a strong beam of light down the prison walls.  The beam moved along with the sun until it reached the eyes of the sleeping Sasuke.  His eyes blinked opened and he woke up just in time to hear a loud banging on the prison door.

"What in the world?"

Sasuke shaded his eyes to look at the metal door.  Dents were starting to form on the door as the banging continued.

"What is that?"

Luc and Futch were already awake from the noise.  The banging went on and finally with one last bang, the metal door fell to the floor.  Sasuke thought it was the floating dust blurring his vision, but he couldn't believe it when he saw Viktor standing at the entrance.

"Viktor!" the boys said in unison with surprise and question.

"Yo boys!  I knew you guys were in here," Viktor said proudly to himself.  He was still standing in the doorway with his arms across his chest and the boys didn't say anything, but stared.  Then Flik appeared from behind Viktor with a grin on his face.  The man with the blue headband dangled a ring of keys in front of Viktor's face.  

"Always doing it the hard way, eh?"

Flik was trying to ruin his fun.  Viktor felt he should do something about it so he said,

"I don't waste time looking for keys like you, Flik.  If you want to rescue someone, you got to do it with you muscles."  He placed a foot on the broken door and looked at it triumphantly.  Flik just shook his head.

"How did you know we were in here?" Sasuke asked.

Flik still had that grin on his face.  Then he turned a bit so they could see what he was holding in his other hand that was hidden behind Viktor.  "By these," Flik held up Luc's rod, Futch's spear and Sasuke's shuriken.  At this point, Viktor began to smile as well.  

"And this too," he said and stepped back to reveal the rest of what Flik was holding in his arm.  

Upon seeing Futch, Bright squealed with delight in Flik's arm.  Soon he was let down on the ground and was held into a tight hug by his worried master.  Everyone present at the scene couldn't help but smile at the two.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"We heard about you three from Shu," Flik began explaining as he started unlocking the restraints on the boys' ankles with the keys.  Then Viktor took over the rest of the conversation.  He spoke while he leaned against the doorway with his arms still crossed.

"Seems that Shu has been looking for us during the past few weeks, but we weren't at the headquarters.  Ha ha," Viktor gave out one of his loud laughs and then he went on.

"When we finally got back yesterday, the guys at the headquarters practically pushed us back out saying that Shu had some urgent stuff for as at Radat and when we got there Shu told us the problem has already been fixed yesterday morning."

"Hey, I thought Klaus said you guys were setting out for a long journey.  How did you get back so fast?"  Futch asked now that he was feeling better with Bright by his side.

"Nah…" Viktor shook his head and leaned back against the doorway.  "Everyone thought we took off for a journey…"  Viktor gave off a chuckle and added, 

"Can't really blame them since we sneaked off in the middle of the night.  We just suddenly felt like drinking some of that good wine back in Toran Republic so we went there.  Who would've thought we would stay there for a whole three weeks."

At this point Flik had to stare at Viktor in awe and stopped unlocking Luc's manacles in the process. 

"If you still remember," Flik had this annoyed tone to his voice, "you left your money at the headquarters and we both drank over what I could've paid for so we had to spend the last few weeks fighting monsters to pay that bartender back."

"What kind of expensive wine were you drinking?" Luc perked a brow.  

He found this to be a bit too stupid to believe, but Flik quickly dismissed him with a shake of his hand.  

"There's no point in telling you kids anyway.  It's not like you three can drink anything in a bar besides lemonade."

Luc was getting annoyed.  He wanted to tell them that he was much older than he looks and shove it into their grinning faces, but he was quickly lifted by the sides to stand upright after Flik has finished with his restraints.

Luc never got a chance to say anything.  He was handed his rod and Viktor began talking again.  

"We heard about you guys from Shu.  You three must've made quite a show back there.  The people of Radat were all cheering for you.  They were having such a party when we arrived."

"And of course we joined in on the fun," Viktor paused a bit to add, "so we ended up with nothing to do."

"Heh," he gave off a sly laugh, "Shu tried really hard to think of something for us to do, just so he wouldn't send us off without doing anything, but he couldn't think of a single thing."

At this, Viktor had to stop and laugh for a while.  Naturally, Flik joined in with him on the noisy chuckling.  The boys stood still as the men continued laughing.  They looked like they had no idea on what to do as the tiny prison rumbled with each of Viktor's cackle.

It's true that the young magician despised noise, but Luc was not angry—he was speechless, because he too agreed that Shu orders people around too much, just like Lady Leeknat.  But Luc can never get angry with Lady Leeknat.  He doesn't really mind if Viktor and Flik laugh at Shu so he stood silently by his other two companions and waited until the laughing dwindled.

"So…how did you end up here?" Futch has been waiting politely to ask.

"Alright, let me continue," said Viktor after finally calming down.  "In the end, a few of the villagers told us that there were some bandits up north in the mountains.  Those bandits have been disrupting trade recently by laying traps and tricking the merchants."

The boys' eyes grew wide as the information sunk in. 

"Then a peddler that has been tricked came over and gave us some details."  

Viktor stopped a bit, but noticed the boys' peculiar undivided attention for his words and decided to continue.  "One of the bandits would act alone to trick a passer-by, making it seem very safe, but hiding in the mountains were dozens of bandits getting ready to strike," Viktor finished.

The boys were silent.  Flik examined their faces.  They were full of shock, anger, and he couldn't really tell what Luc was thinking.  Then he asked them, "You three fell into their trap, didn't you."

The three said nothing.  Flik got the answer but Viktor had to add, "Guess my assumption of you three getting caught from fighting with the bandits was wrong.  Those bandits got you easy, didn't they."

Two heads snapped up immediately towards Vikitor's direction.  The man has successfully channeled the boys' anger from the bandits to himself…well, at least for two of them.  Viktor instantaneously kept his mouth shut.

"So…" Flik hoped to change the subject before anything bad might occur. "We heard from Shu that you three were going on a journey," Flik paused, "not just a regular quest but a…"

"A journey led by fate," the small magician finished for him.  Then he was silent again, as if he was waiting for Flik's opinion on the topic.

"It must be tough going around with no aim…" the man finally said after some careful thinking.  With a flick of his cape he casually strode out of the cell as if he never said anything.  Viktor followed out and the three boys as well.  


	12. Revenge and Goodbye

As soon as they left the dank basement, the boys found that they were back in the house of that man who had tricked them.  The old cottage was the way they have seen before except now there were bodies of men dressed in bandit's clothes lying about in some quite uncomfortable ways.

"You sure gave them a good beating," Sasuke commented.

Viktor grinned, "They were nothing.  Just a couple of swindlers who thought too highly of themselves."

The group stood by to marvel at the handy-work of Viktor and Flik.  Luc wanted to thank the two, but then he felt it would be easier to just show his appreciation.  Besides, it could prevent him from speaking and ending up saying something that might embarrass himself later on.  

So the boy found his way through the litter of bodies until he was beside the one of a man, whom he believed was the one who had tricked them before.  He couldn't be sure since all the bandits' faces were puffy with bruises, but it didn't matter anyways since they were all involved with tricking them.

Luc raised his left foot and was prepared to kick the man in the ribs, but stopped and decided to give it a second thought.  The foot was connected to the ankle, which he had twisted before.  Even though it wasn't hurting anymore and is working quite well so far, he wouldn't want to risk damaging it again.

Luc set his foot back down, gently, and raised his staff instead.  The small magician swung it down with all his might, as a golfer would with his golf club.  The blow caught the man right in the ribs, but the small boy's power was limited.  It only served to nudge the body a bit.  In fact, the bandit, who has been lying face down, didn't even get turned over.

At this, Sasuke, who has been watching with the others, had to smack his forehead.  

"That's not how you do it."

He skipped over and was beside the magician in a flash.  Not that he had intended to do it so fast, but just that he was accustomed to his high ninja speed.

"Here, let me show you," Sasuke offered in a generous manner.  The shinobi raised a tight fist and skillfully let it swing down until it was below the man's back, but never touching the ground.  Once his hand connected to the body's side, Sasuke pushed his arm and body up, forming a perfect uppercut.  All this was done very quickly.  The bandit flipped over and did several somersaults before landing with a thud.

"Was that cool or what," Sasuke said in a proud voice, but when he turned around, Luc has already left his side and was walking out the door.  
  


"Aw come on.  I did that to show you.  You're just wasting my time."

Being used to Luc's personality, or more correctly it takes Sasuke longer for the rudeness of the situation to sink in, Sasuke indifferently strode out after Luc while showing no signs of being irritated.  Flik and Viktor, who have been silent during the whole time, remained silent as they followed Sasuke out through the door.

Futch had to stay behind and blink at the poor man before carrying Bright out with him.  His Bright was safely returned to him so he no longer had a grudge against the bandits.  He was free to feel pity for them, well, at least for a slight second.  

It wasn't until the group had completely emptied out of the room that the bandits started moving about and groaning out their pains.  They felt lucky to be alive and able to have played dead long enough to fool their attackers out of the house, but little did they know, Viktor and Flik had intended to keep them alive out of nobleness.  

The three boys and the two men walked back out to the main path from the bandit's house.  As they were walking, Flik began to ponder on what Luc had said before.  He finally let out what he had on his mind.

"You know what," he told Luc, who was walking beside him, "this journey of yours, it reminds me of…"

"Riou and his journey?"

Luc quickly finished for him, but doesn't answer the question.  They kept on walking and continued thinking to themselves again.

'Our journey like Riou's journey?  It's impossible.  His journey was of much more importance than ours.  Besides, as Lady Leknaat had predicted, the stars of destiny will not be gathering together anytime soon…so our group will probably remain as Futch, Sasuke, and me.'

"Hey Luc!"  Futch's call to him broke the magician's chain of thoughts.  "Do you need any help?" the boy with the baby dragon asked.  

The offer was not unreasonable since his pace was incredibly slow.  Getting lost in his thoughts didn't help him realize that this was the fastest his injured ankle permitted.  Now he was lagging behind when the others were already at the edge of the main mountain path.  Flik had stuck by him and was walking very slowly with him.  

When the whole group was on the path, Flik and Viktor had to go south, towards the headquarters, and the boys had to head west, towards Muse, so the two men separated from the three boys and bid each other farwell.  But before they were completely away from each other, Viktor turned back to the boys and shouted, 

"Hey, if you kids ever start an army, remember to call us too!"

Both Viktor and Flik had a smile on their face as they turned back to their path.  The boys were left bewildered, wondering if this journey of theirs will end up as great as Riou's, all except for Luc of course.  Still, even if it was not possible, the words did leave a good feeling inside of Luc and he intended to keep it that way so he started walking again without thinking anymore about it.

Ah yes, I call Luc "Luke" too, even though sometimes I call him "Luce" just for the fun of it.  That really makes his name sound like light, to me, for some reason…Anyways, hmm…if you've never seen Futch, Luc, and Sasuke's unite attack, the "Pretty-boy Attack", then it can be hard to believe they would travel together.  The move, itself, is pretty useless though since it damages Futch and Sasuke's hp and makes them unfriendly, but I really like the name ^_^  I have evidence too.  I have several pages of manga all about the three hanging out together.  Maybe I can make a site for this fic and put up those pics?  Thanks for reading everybody!


	13. Musing on the Way to Muse

'Nothing much happened after we separated from Viktor and Flik.  We managed to stay on the mountain path and took the rest of the morning to finish the way.'

'We passed by a river that was running through the mountains.  It was a wide river, about 20-feet across, but the river was shallow and only carried a slow-drifting and tranquil sort of current.  We were devastated by our hunger by the time we had reached it.  We hadn't eaten anything for some time and those bandits didn't bother to feed us.  So we stopped by the river to catch fish.'

'Like I said, the waters weren't running too fast so it was easy, but even that wasn't enough to prevent stupid Sasuke from falling flat into the water.  Damn Sasuke, he got all my clothes wet…'

'After crossing the river, there wasn't much mountain path left for us to cover.  By noon, we have reached the grassy plains on the other side of the mountains and that's where we are still walking on right now.'

Luc gingerly lifted a corner of his sleeve, which was wet with river water.  Then he glared at Sasuke with the worst mean look he could muster, which was a pretty intimidating one.  Sasuke's ninja sense kicked into action and immediately he felt those daggers Luc was aiming at his back with his eyes.

"What?" 

Sasuke turned around, but Luc didn't say anything to him so the confused ninja just continued walking again.  

'Gee, I wonder what Luc wants from me.  I'm not a mind reader, you know.  If he wants something, then he should come up and ask me.'  

'I hate it when he glares at me with those eyes.  It feels just like that unsatisfied glare my master used to give me when I was in training.  It's not polite to stare at people like that.  You only do that to your enemies.  He should know that…'

'Maybe…I'm just imagining things.'

Sasuke took a second look behind him.  The moment he turned around, his eyes connected with the petrifying green eyes glaring unmistakably in his direction.  His mind suddenly filled with the memories of his master hitting him on the head from his punishments.  He slowly and carefully pried his eyes away and turned his head back to the front.  Neither Luc nor Sasuke said anything as he did this, adding to the tension that was present.

When his view was once again the grassy fields ahead of him, the ninja sighed in great relief.  He held a hand to his heart as if he had just survived from a life-threatening situation.  He continued walking ahead without ever changing his pace.  He held his head straight and swore to never look behind him again.

He pretty soon was able to forget about Luc glaring at him and was once again back in his own happy thoughts from before.

'Finally, we're going to Muse.  First, I'll trick the others by saying I'm just going to get some more throwing knives.  Once we separate, I'll sneak into the item shop and get that necklace…do I have enough money?'  

'I brought 300 potch with me…I got 30 more from those monsters, but then I used 150 potch for the inn…so that makes 120 potch!  That should be enough.'

'When Kasumi-neechan gets that necklace, she'll be so happy that she might even…'

Sasuke's face has become all red, but he hardly noticed and just kept fantasizing to himself.  Luc, however, had been staring at Sasuke all along so he did witness how the silent boy's face suddenly became all red and started holding that stupid grin.

'What is wrong with him?' the magician shook his head.  

This action has finally confirmed Luc's suspicion of Sasuke being stupid.  He had wanted to make Sasuke pay for getting his clothes wet, but now, watching Sasuke act so stupidly, Luc just lost his motivation.  'There's no point in making a stupid person feel stupid anyway,' was what Luc thought to himself.  

He turned away from the what-he-presumed-to-be a crazy boy and was no longer trying to figure out what Sasuke had been thinking.  Instead, his attention was focused on the boy who had started pointing at a direction in the distance.  

Futch was holding his baby dragon and spear in one hand and pointing at something in front of them with the other.  Nothing was coming out of his half opened mouth, but his eyes were squinting really hard as if he was trying to confirm something before saying anything.

"There," he finally said, "I can see Muse!"  Now that he was sure, Futch's finger was pointing confidently at the little brownish spot on the horizon.  As he did this, the energetic boy looked from companion to companion, but he became confused when he noticed that Sasuke wasn't responding to him.  He gave a confused look in the ninja's direction.  Then he turned to the other boy instead.

The magician did respond and gave him an acknowledging look.

"Good," Luc nodded at the spear holder, "we should reach there in about a half an hour."

Futch nodded in response and he happily continued on the journey without ever knowing what grief the other two had been going through.

Gee, you guys thought I wasn't continuing this, huh.  Well, this story is too deeply embedded into my mind.  You see, I tried giving it up after playing Suikoden 3, but that didn't work as you can see.  I really hate straying from any main plots or official information of games or anime that I'm using, but I did it anyway, all for this fic.  So…I might get busy and stuff, but this story is too far plotted out so it will go on!  And uh, thank you everyone for reading this.  I'm really glad you're all enjoying this.  'til next time ^_^


	14. Making Luc See a Doctor

The three boys reached Muse sometime in the late afternoon.  They were glad to have made it to their destination.  The three slowly walked up to the city's entrance, but none of them dared to take a step beyond the city's gates.

"What's going on?" Futch asked.  He and his other two companions were standing horizontally across the town's opening, with Luc in the middle and Sasuke on the other side.  

Luc didn't answer.  For once, he really had no idea what was going on.  Sasuke took a gulp at the big crowd before he spoke up.

"What's with all the people?"

Beyond the city's open gates, more people than usual were standing in the streets.  Most of them were just standing there out in the open.  The streets towards the northwest side of the city were much more dense with people.  A large and heavily populated crowd can be seen clustered around Muse's entrance to its hilltop meeting place.  People were outside of their homes and all the people standing on the streets were gazing towards the white building on the hilltop and talking with each other.

After observing all this, Futch turned to face his other two companions.  "What should we do now?" he asked.

Luc closed his eyes and took a breath as if he was preparing to do a dreadful task.  Then he said, "I guess we should go check it out."  

There was nothing he could do about the unexpected mob of people on the streets so he thought that he might as well get it over with.  Luc took one last look at the crowd from the safety of the other side of the entrance.

The noise level of the city had always been too much for the silence-accustomed boy, but today, with all the people out in the streets, it has reached a nauseating level for the boy.  He took a step into the city's entrance.  At the same moment, as he does this, the ninja beside him quickly swept an arm in front of Luc to prevent him from going any further. 

Luc stopped immediately, as the arm in front of him suggested him to do, but he was puzzled about Sasuke's action.  Luc quizzically looked at Sasuke as he heard the other boy's explantion.

"Oh no you don't!" Sasuke's face was stern, "we're taking you to Dr. Huan."

The sudden unexplained command didn't break Luc's calm composure much.  The magician simply blinked.  His mind worked as he stared into the other boy's face.  He took a look at his left ankle and then back at Sasuke.  He saw Sasuke nod and acknowledge it as the reason.

"I'm fine.  I can walk."  With the same sort of coolness as before, the magician calmly used the back of his hand to push away Sasuke's arm, but the arm was tight and refused to budge.

"No you're not!" the ninja replied, this time sounding angrier, "that foot, it's making you walk about as slow as an old mule!"

Futch flinched the moment he heard the comment come out of Sasuke's mouth.  Bright gave a small wail in his arms as if he was asking his master what had happened.  Futch looked down at his baby dragon. 

"It's nothing Bright," he gave his dragon a small pat before cautiously turning to study the face of the boy beside him.  Just as he thought, Luc's expression had slowly hardened, his mask of calmness slowly slipping off.  

'I hope it's not going to be another fight,' Futch thought to himself.  He held his baby dragon a bit closer to himself.

"If we don't go fix it, you'll just slow us down!"  Futch listened as Sasuke continued.  Sasuke had a point, but he didn't really need to shout everything out, was what Futch thought.

"Futch!"

The spear holder quickly shook out of his thoughts.  

"Where's Dr. Huan's house?"

"Uh..uh..the second house to the left…I think," the boy fumbled a bit before he got it out.

"Let's go," Sasuke declared, but Luc refused, "we're not going."

Sasuke looked over to Futch and gave him a nod.  The spear holder took a few seconds before he reluctantly nodded in return.  Then on a count of three, each boy grabbed an arm of Luc's and together they hauled the protesting boy into the city.

It's summer vacation, buddy!  Where everything comes out a bit more faster and everybody's a bit more happier.  This chapter came out pretty fast as well.  I hope things stay this way too.  Well then, 'till next time everybody.


	15. In Dr Huan's House

Hi everybody.  I'm back and I've got a surprise for you.  This fic now has it's own official site.  Just head over to my author's page.  I'll put up the link over there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Across the crowded city, the two boys carried Luc, looking for the doctor's house.  They took up some space on the street, going side by side, but they sprinted by quickly and slipped around the human obstacles as best as they could.  

"I thought you said it's the second house on the left!" Sasuke huffed out loudly between breaths.

"Y..yeah,"

Futch muttered out lightly, just enough for Sasuke to hear.  He was sure that Luc was angry with them at the moment and the spear holder didn't want to catch the angry magician's attention by speaking too loudly.  

Sasuke gave Futch a funny look for the absent-minded answer he got from him.  Even though the boy with the dragon wasn't looking his way, it was obvious that the boy wasn't paying any attention to him so the ninja didn't say anything and just kept running.

Futch was breathing heavily too from running with his weapon, Bright, and Luc in his arms, but he was more worried about Luc than anything else.  He slowly rolled his eyes to his right and peered over at Luc's face.  He had expected a grimace or a frown plastered on it, but was surprised when neither was on it.  Luc's expression was a peaceful one with his eyes staring at the distance as if he was thinking of something.

'Whew,'

Futch was relieved.  He felt sorry for the other boy, about how he's keeping quiet even after what Sasuke said and then them dragging him to see Dr. Huan.

'That's right,' Futch acknowledged Luc's silence as understanding for what they are doing.  

'We're only doing this for your own good,' 

Futch wanted to say to the other boy to make him feel better, but he was too afraid.  On appearance, Luc looked like a boy that was younger than himself and it made Futch want to treat him like one, but in reality, Luc was much more older than him and Sasuke.  The guise had been very misleading for Futch.  It was also this situation that caused Futch to drop many of the boyish conversations he had wanted to start with Luc, which led to many of the arkward silences they had on their journey.

In his own mind, the young magician sighed.  He had just about given up hope.  There was nothing he could do anyway with the two boys holding him at least a few inches higher and him being a few inches shorter than the two.  All he was able to do during the time was dangle his feet.

Luc flexed his right foot so that it was on its tiptoe.  'Ugh, it's hopeless.'  The boy tried swinging his dangling foot a few times, but it still wouldn't reach the floor.  He inwardly sighed again to himself.

'I guess Sasuke was right about getting the ankle fixed so it won't slow us down,' he thought to himself.  

While he was doing so, he blindly stared at the fast moving ground beneath him.  Then he pulled his head back up and began looking from side to side at the people on the street.  He noticed that none of them were paying any attention to them three.  He sighed again and calmed down some more.

'At least no one is noticing…I wonder what's so interesting up there,'

Luc referred his question to the hilltop meeting place that everyone on the streets was pointing and staring at.  He narrowed his eyes and focused on the little white building as if there was something very suspicious about it.  

At the same time, a cheery voice, which belonged to Futch, popped up and said,

"We're there!"

Luc turned his head back to the road to see.  The boys' pace had quickened and they were aiming at a two-storied white building just a few doors ahead.  They stopped right at the large wooden door once they've reached it and Sasuke opened the door with his free hand.

"We're here, Dr. Huan," 

The ninja announced as he and Futch brought the injured magician through the door.  They settled Luc onto the wooden floor once they were inside.

"What is the matter?" the confused doctor quickly walked over to them as Futch closed the door.

"Luc's ankle got twisted—here, I'll explain it to you."

The ninja raised a hand as he reasoned.  He opened his mouth to continue, but the doctor stopped him with a palm.

"Alright, let's go inside and have you seated first," he looked at Sasuke and then said to Luc in a tone that sounded like he was a father reproving a little boy.  The magician really didn't like that, but obediently followed Dr. Huan anyway with a small scowl on his face.

"This way," said the young Tuta to Futch, who didn't move even after Sasuke had already followed Luc into the next room.

"Oh right.  Thanks Tuta."

The boy snapped out of his daze.  He smiled at the young apprentice, who smiled back, and ran after the others with his baby dragon held securely in both of his hands.  Then the shorter boy followed, leaving the front room empty once again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After being seated in the doctor's office, Luc removed his left boot, as he was instructed to do so.  He placed his bare foot on a stool for Dr. Huan to see and once again he was surrounded by his two companions, just like back at the bandit's house.

Dr. Huan took a look at Luc's foot.  It was a bit bruised around the ankle area, but the deeper colors of the bruise had already started to fade and it seemed like the ankle had started to heal.  

The doctor gave a nod.  He knew exactly what he had to do.  He called Tuta over to ask for some equipment.  Then he looked up at the two expectant boys standing beside him and said, "Don't worry, it'll be just fine."

The doctor paused.  Now that they were out of the dim front room, he could clearly see the faces of the three boys under the bright light of his office.  He shook his head disapprovingly at what he saw and said,

"What happened to you three?  Haven't you been taking care of yourselves?  Have you been eating properly?"

The three boys remained silent, giving Dr. Huan his answer.  The older man sighed, "I don't want to lecture you, but you have to eat your meals properly.  It's not healthy to go skipping them."

"Tonight, you three will stay here and have dinner with us."

"But…" Futch hesitated.

"No buts," the doctor cut him off, "After I'm done with Luc, I'll ask the cook to prepare for three more people."

The deal was sealed.  He turned back to Luc's injured ankle, but paused and looked up again after realizing something.  He turned to Sasuke and Futch and said,

"Now this may take a while so in the meantime, will you two boys do me a favor and bring this medicine to a patient of mine?"  He took a small white bag, with a bottle inside, from a table next to him and placed it into Sasuke's hands as he said this.

"Normally, I would be asking Tuta to deliver it," he continued.  At the same moment, the young apprentice returned from the doorway with a tray of items in his hands.  He set them down on a table next to Dr. Huan.  Then he clasped his hands together and stood there smiling at Futch and Sasuke as the doctor went on.

"But as you can see, the streets today are more crowded than usual and I wouldn't trust it to be safe for a small boy like Tuta to be out there."

Sasuke and Futch nodded understandingly.  Relieved that the two boys will accept the assignment, the doctor gave them a good-hearted smile. "Tuta will give you the directions to the patient's house."

The two boys looked at Tuta, who gave them a nod.  He also motioned for them to come outside with him into the front room so they did and carried the medicine with them.  

Luc watched on wordlessly as Tuta gave them the instructions.  They were too far away for him to listen to, but he could see them clearly, standing in the next room.  He watched their mouths speak and Futch nod his head a few times.  Then Tuta walked over to the door.  He opened it for them and Futch and Sasuke went outside.

Remember to check out the site.  This story will keep on being updated here on ff.net, but the official site has pictures, ooooooooo.


	16. Operation: Get Kasumi's Necklace

Present in Dr.Huan's house were only Luc, Tuta, and the doctor himself.  Futch, Bright, and Sasuke had left a while ago to deliver the medicine and they still haven't returned yet.  The doctor was tending Luc's injured ankle and nothing was said between the three of them.  Thought, the mood was not tense since both Dr. Huan and Tuta were sporting their usual smile.

"The ankle isn't as bad as it could've been," the doctor finally broke the silence.  "You said that a bandit gave you some medicine before, right.  You should be glad that he had given you the real thing."

"…uh," 

The uncertain response of agreement was all that Luc managed to utter out, but it didn't really matter since the doctor had said all this without ever pausing from his work.  It was a true indication that the doctor was merely trying to strike a light conversation as a distraction.

Even so, Luc didn't mean to not pay attention to the doctor, but it was just that he had been getting this weird feeling.  It was tangling up his emotions, making him feel very uneasy.  He didn't know what was causing him to feel this way, but it had started ever since Futch and Sasuke had dragged him into town.

'I'm probably just thinking too much,' Luc tried to shake off the feeling.  The uneasiness didn't go away so he tried concentrating on what Dr. Huan was doing instead.  

The doctor was diligently working on his ankle.  Luc looked up at the doctor's down-turned face.  His mind became blank for a moment as he just sat there blinking his eyes.  He then thought of his rudeness from before and decided to make up for it by starting a new conversation.

"…I wonder what's taking Futch and Sasuke so long."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Done and done," the young shinobi patted his hands together as he turned a corner and away from the street where he and Futch separated.

After they had finished delivering the medicine to Dr. Huan's patient, which was an old man, Sasuke was able to convince Futch to part ways with him by lying that he had wanted to sightsee.  Naturally, being the practical person he was, Futch refused to go with him and decided to go restock on supplies instead of waste time with Sasuke.

"And now to go get Kasumi-neechan's necklace."

The shinobi quickened his pace.  As he marched towards the intersection, he noticed that a large crowd of people was gathered on the other side of his street.  It was the same crowd they had seen before around the hilltop entrance.  He slowed down to take a look as he reached the intersection, but didn't remain to check it carefully.  Instead he walked away, towards a different direction, and said to himself, "It doesn't matter, I need to go south anyway."

He walked assuredly down the second street.  Even though he had never been to Muse before, he and Futch had passed by the item shop earlier, when they were delivering the medicine.  He was sure it was in the direction that he was going.

He finally spotted the item shop and ran the last few steps to the front door.  Sasuke pulled it open and leaped inside.  Once he was in there and the door was closed, the noise of the people on the streets dwindled down to a small murmur.  The loud mixture of people's voices had been buzzing in Sasuke's ears for a while.  Suddenly walking into a quiet room did put him a bit off balance.  

The ninja took a deep long breath and sighed.  In his mind, he decided that this was the first time he's seen a large crowded city and that he didn't like it.  Even Gregminster wasn't as noisy as this, but Sasuke would really pick the quietness of Rokkaku over anything at anytime.

Sasuke slowly walked around the store.  The aging wooden floorboards creaked under him as he did.  The room was dark compared to the brightness of outside so he blinked his eyes as they were getting adjusted.

"How can I help you?" the storeowner said when Sasuke reached the counter.  Sasuke moved his head around and looked over the items that the man had to offer.  He stopped when he finally located what he was looking for.

"That," Sasuke pointed at a box of wooden amulets on a shelf behind the counter.  The man smiled as he reached over to grab the box.

"You've got good eyes, son.  These are specially-crafted amulets made here in Muse," he settled the box onto the counter and Sasuke began picking through the contents.  

"You can only get them in Muse."

"Yeah, I know," Sasuke replied as he held up an amulet into the light to see.  He examined it for a while.  After finding no problems with it, he clasped the amulet in his hand, then placed it on top of the counter, away from the rest of the amulets in the box.

"I'll take this one," Sasuke said to the man with a satisfied grin on his face.

"That will be 120 potch."

Upon hearing the exact cost of the amulet, Sasuke's face lit up with immense joy.  

'120 potch! That's exactly what I have.  Even one potch less will not do.'  

The overexcited ninja reached his hand into his pocket, preparing to pull out the 120 potch the man had asked for, but the action never got executed.  The 120 potch that Sasuke was supposed to have was…

"Gone!"  

Sasuke began to panic, "W..where is it?"  He searched himself all over but couldn't find it.  "WHERE DID IT GO?!"

"You really don't remember using it, do you?"

Sasuke spun around.  Even though he had shouted out his last question, he hadn't really expected anyone to answer him.  Smiling smugly, Futch was leaning against the doorway with none other than Bright, his baby dragon, in his arms.  He pushed himself up and began walking towards the confused ninja.

"You really really don't remember?" Futch asked with the same smile unchanged on his face.

"N..no," Sasuke replied.  His eyes followed as the other boy began circling around him.  

Futch would've enjoyed prolonging Sasuke's confusion by continuing to withhold the answer, but it's just that Sasuke's face looked so tortured so Futch finally gave up the answer.

"We needed a boat, back when we were in Banner, to get to Radat so we rented one, but we all had to pitch in to cover the cost…  You gave exactly 120 potch."

"Noooooo!!" 

Sasuke grabbed his head and screamed as soon as Futch finished the last sentence.  He collapsed onto the counter and began to sulk.  The whole room was silent.  After a while, Sasuke thought he heard Futch walking up to him, but he didn't care until a hand laid out 120 potch onto the counter in front of him.

Sasuke earnestly looked up and stared at Futch—at a lost for words.  Futch adverted his eyes and started scratching his face with a finger.

"I'm not doing this for you.  You see, we were going to the market to get some dragon food for Bright, but they didn't sell any over there so…since I have some extra money…"

"Oh, thank you so much!"

Sasuke threw his arms up, ready to hug his savior.  Futch quickly thrust a hand into Sasuke's face, just in time to stop him.  After some calming down, the two were finally able to purchase the wooden amulet.  They stepped out of the item shop, back into the bright sunlight, except it had turned bright orange from the approaching dusk.

"Thank you," Sasuke repeated again.

"You have to pay me back, you know."

"Sure," Sasuke replied swiftly, "of course I will."

So…I'm sure everyone reading this fic has checked it's official site.  I urge you to go see it, I mean, its got pictures for every chapter…going to.  And Lady of Genesis, this is what I've been talking about, I scanned that whole story onto the official site.  Go there and see for yourself, if it's English or Japanese ^_^  

The link is on my author's page.  Let me try and post it again here,   


	17. Resurfacing Memories

They were walking down the street, heading toward the direction that will take them back to Dr. Huan's house.  The sunset was coming closer with each second, but the crowd on the northeast side of the city never dispersed.  In fact, some activity seemed to be going on at the moment.  More people were running in to join the crowd.  They were all talking at the same time and craning their necks to see something in the middle.  

"What's going on?" Sasuke picked a young man from the noisy crowd to ask.

"Didn't you hear?" Excitement was in the man's eyes, "The City States of Jowston are signing a peace treaty with the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia.  This is probably the only chance I'll ever get to see a real Harmonian."

"Oh really," 

Sasuke wasn't really that interested, probably because he didn't know much about Harmonia, but whether he knew or not probably wouldn't have made a difference.  Futch just stood by and watched on.

"So who did the Harmonians send here?"

"Some high priest from Harmonia."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luc jerked his head up suddenly.  His head was turned so that he was facing the window from where he was sitting.  His eyes were involuntarily glued to it.  The full view of the setting sun from his second floor window was hurting his eyes, but he couldn't control himself as he continued staring towards that direction.

At that moment, the noise of the mob outside suddenly grew a notch higher.  Even though he couldn't see the people outside from where he was sitting, he could tell that something was going on.  The strange feeling he had been experiencing was growing within him and is starting to become too overwhelming for the small magician.

Luc quickly tore his eyes from the window when he realized that he had stopped breathing.  His hands clutched at robe and bed sheets as he panted heavily for air.  He bent forward and did nothing else but breathe until his breathing finally returned to normal.

The boy had no idea what had just happened, but the breathing had calmed him down.  Luc took a look at the window.  He could walk over and see exactly what was going on outside, but he just wasn't curious enough.  He decided to dismiss the strange happening that had just went on.

The strange feeling was still burning inside him, but he was now conscious enough to control it.  He pushed that feeling away until he was finally able to ignore it.  Luc straightened himself on the edge of the bed he was sitting on.  He had been waiting in the room for Futch and Sasuke to return.  Then they could all go down and have dinner with Dr. Huan, but the two boys were coming back later than expected.  Since Dr. Huan still had some patients to see, Luc couldn't sit downstairs so Tuta had escorted him upstairs to the patient's room.  

The patient's room was filled with white-sheeted beds of two rows, on two sides of the room.  A large window covered the wall at the end of the room, filling the room with orange light.  Luc had chosen a bed on the right to sit on.  No one else was in the room.  He sat in silence and waited patiently, watching as the shadows began taking over in the room.

Luc was used to waiting by idly.  He often did that in the castle during the two wars and even while he was in the tower of Magician's Island.  He usually kept his head clear of heavy thoughts, but this time…

Slowly, as if in a trance, past memories began resurfacing.  The little bits crept up and kept building up in his empty mind until Luc was no longer able to control his own thoughts.  Soon the whole memory was rolling out incessantly before him.

~~~~~~~~flashback

They were in a courtyard.  It was very beautiful, decorated with flowers and potted plants everywhere.  A strong noon sun was burning brightly in the sky, making the white courtyard look even whiter.  The strange style of the structures indicated that it was from a place far away.

He was sitting at a small circular table, hunched over several heavy-looking textbooks.  Another boy, not too much older than him by looks, was slowly circling the table with a smaller book in his hand.  The younger boy finally looked up from his reading and said,

"Clarence."

The older boy, obviously the owner of the name looked away from his reading too, down at the boy sitting at the table, 

"Yes?"

The younger one paused for a moment, then looked up again, 

"Why do they always compare me with High Priest Sasarai?"

Green eyes bore straight into the eyes of the other, brimming with need for an answer.  His tutor didn't reply, so the younger boy went on,

"It's not like I can ever be as great as him."  He threw his hands up in frustration.  "So why do it?"

The boy is saddened.  He placed his hands back down on his lap and looked down.  

"Why don't I ever get to see him?  It's not fair."

The small courtyard was quiet again.  The older boy blinked his eyes thoughtfully, still looking down at his younger disciple.  He was in deep concentration, as if pondering over something before he finally let out a sigh, reaching a conclusion.

"Master Luc, you are a high priest of Harmonia too.  For now, you should just concentrate on your studies."

Clarence had successfully dodged a conversation about High Priest Sasarai with the boy.  He had been instructed to not let Luc know too many details about the other high priest, but Clarence didn't resume the lesson.  Instead, he watched the boy grimace with his head faced down.

He wasn't sure if the boy was crying.  His questions about High Priest Sasarai kept getting rejected by anyone he had asked.  He just wasn't destined to know about the high priest, yet he was unluckily interested in High Priest Sasarai ever since he had first heard about him.

Clarence felt sorry for Luc.  He took a look to make sure that the courtyard was empty, then he said in a lower voice,

"Even though you never saw his face, High Priest Sasarai does know you."

Luc quickly looked up sniffling and trying to blink away his tears.

"r..really?

"Of course," he continued in the same low voice, "as a high ranking officer, he must remember all the names of his fellow co-officers."

"That must be a lot of names."

Clarence gave him a nod with a smile on his face.  Luc was no longer crying.  Instead his eyes were lit up with amazement.  A bright smile grew on his face.

"Wow!  That is so cool!"

He tried to keep it down seeing how secretive Clarence had been when he was telling him about it, but he just couldn't hold in his excitement.

"Not only is he powerful in battles, but he is smart too."  

"There's no way I can ever be like him!"

flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last phrase brought a pang of pain to Luc's heart.  He shook his head as his mind resurfaced to reality.  Nothing much happened in that memory, but for some reason it became connected with a feeling of sadness for Luc.  He desperately tried to shake them off again, the memory and the feeling.  

He stood up.  The sun has set.  The whole room was dark except for a small glow coming through the window.  Just at that moment, the room's door flung open, throwing a long yellow light into the room with the silhouette of a person in the middle.  Luc looked behind him.

"We're back," Futch called.  "Let's go down for dinner.  Sasuke's already downstairs."

He waited by the open door for Luc to follow him.  Luc took one last look towards the large glass window, then without a second thought, he hurried out into the bright doorway.

Hi everybody, I'm back.  I'll have to apologize because chapters will be coming out slower from now on.  If you haven't noticed, summer vacation's over (sob~) This also means the official site won't get updated often as well -_-

Well, did you see?  That was my attempt at writing Luc's past.  Luc acting like that cute little boy and crying in the flashback up there?  Is that even possible?  Well, if you've played Suikoden 1 before, Luc used to be a lot more childish back then so I thought he must've been pretty normal when he was little, don't you think?

Anyways, I'll try my best to wrap up this part of the story.  Hopefully we won't get many cliffhangers.  Then I'll have to concentrate on schoolwork.  Until next time!


	18. Dinner and a Dream

"Aww, I'm hungry!" wailed Sasuke. He couldn't hold much longer. Dinner had been prepared and laid out on the table before him in all its different colors. And the smell only reminded him of just how hungry he was.

"Now now Sasuke. We can't start without the others," Dr. Huan warned. The boy immediately shrunk back. Even though the doctor had said it in his usual gentle tone, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated by the more deep and authoritative voice of an adult.

"Sorry for the wait," Futch announced as he and Luc stepped into the kitchen. The two took the remaining vacant spots at the small dinner table. Everything was ready. The dinner guests were all present, but no one made a move.

Sasuke, who was the most anxious, sat darting his eyes from one plate to the other, but he didn't dare be the first one to start. No one made a sound. Dr. Huan blinked. He hadn't the slightest idea what was causing the children to be so intimidated. Well, Tuta was just too polite to start eating first, but the others… Even the dragon was quiet by Futch's side. Perhaps they were not used to having formal meals at other people's houses.

"Well, we can start now," the doctor urged them in a friendly tone. "Go on."

Still, none of them made the motion to pick up their chopsticks. The children sat rolling their eyes at one another waiting for the other to start. Dr. Huan internally sighed. He wanted to laugh at the unexpected actions of his houseguests, but he thought he should just keep quiet and save them from the humiliation. Maybe, he thought to himself, he had forgotten what it was like to be a kid.

The doctor picked up his pair of chopsticks and began to eat. Warily, the children followed. At first they slowly picked the food on the table at sparse intervals, but soon the pace quickened and a regular dinner had begun. The boys had a great time, especially Sasuke, who had several extra servings of rice. Now they were sleeping peacefully in the patients' room upstarirs or so it seems…

Luc furrowed his brows over closed eyes. An old dream was slowly replaying itself to him.

…

Slender fingers traced the intricate patterns of a stone, cold door. The boy took a deep breath. Then with all his might, he pushed the door open. Luc hurried down the long empty hallway. He was in a restricted area. Lord Hikusaak was holding a meeting here today so he had been told not to go near the place, yet…

He went on, breathing heavily from the quickened pace and partially from the fear of getting caught. In his mind he kept wondering why he was doing this and each time he did, he remembered the incident that went on yesterday.

flashback

It was afternoon. The young true rune holder was walking back to his room after his lessons. Once again he had failed to squeeze any information out of his tutor about his idol, High Priest Sasarai. He ambled down the outdoor walkway. The sun was almost set. The smell of summer was heavy in the air, mostly due to the plants from the garden that was beside him.

Luc looked at the garden. He had always found it very soothing to look at. Beautiful plants of all kinds, colors, and possibilities from all over the world were present. Gorgeous and well taken care of, it was like a small world of its own, easy to just lose yourself into.

The boy walked along happily until something white caught his eye. It was a white cloth, draped onto the floor up ahead by the wall of the walkway. It was foreign. Luc had taken this path many times and he had never seen such an object. He slowly edged on. Upon closer inspection, he stopped when he realized it was a figure of a person in the drapery.

The young Harmonian panicked. He didn't know what to do. He had been living the same routine life for as long as he could remember and wasn't very susceptible to change. Minutes passed as he stood there with the cloaked figure unmoved. The sun had already set. Luc finally took a deep breath. He thought if the person hadn't moved for so long then it could possibly be dead and he would be safe.

He moved down the darkened walkway. If he could just pass this foreign object then he could be on his way, safe and back on his routine way. He would go back to his room and the next day he would wake up and begin his studies again, day after day in the same way. When he finally reached the figure, the young Harmonian kept his eyes straight ahead. One step…two step…three step…he was almost past the strange figure until…

"Young one,"

Said a woman's voice under the white hood. The boy froze.

"You need not be afraid of me, Luc." The voice was calm and hardly had any tone of hostility to it, but Luc was scared. His mind was running and he wasn't used to it.

'Who is she?'

'How did she know my name?'

'What should I do?'

Before he could think anymore, the woman spoke again, "I have come to take you with me," she rose a hand, draped with white cloth. This time the young Harmonian thought more clearly.

'Why would I do that?'

'I'm fine the way I am…'

"Will you come with me or not?"

"No," Luc replied with certainty, but his voice still came out trembling. The cloaked woman raised a hand to an amused smile on her face. A swish of cloth could be heard in the silence as she did so.

"Very well, but whether this is your decision or not, this is your destiny."

Luc tightened his lips. With his voice still shaking, this time a little bit from anger, he replied to the stranger, "How can that be my destiny? I...I belong here…"

At this point, the cloaked figure gave out a small laugh, "Oh? So you need to ascertain this by yourself? Very well, I will show the truth to you…" And the stranger told him what to do.

.

.

.

Hi everybody, sure took a long time, huh. Wonder if anybody's still waiting for me… Don't worry I'll keep writing. I'll take me time, but I'm not giving this up because I like this fic too :)


	19. The Truth Behind the Stone Door

Standing at the end of the long hallway, Luc had almost completed all of the cloaked woman's directions except all that he had left to do was open the large double doors that were in front of him. He breathed heavily. Small hands pressed themselves onto the surface of a beautifully engraved stone door. The boy closed his eyes tight and with all his energy, he pushed the door open. The large stone door was hardly open with just a small unnoticeable crevice.

A moment passed until he finally let out the breath of air he was holding. Luc sighed in relief. At the moment when he had finally pushed on the door, he had realized he was going to get into serious trouble. If he were to get caught, sneaking into a political conference…

Now, after standing in front of the open door for so long, he was sure he was safe. The shock made his mind clearer. 'Why am I doing this?' he questioned himself for these things he would've never dreamed of doing before. But deep down he knew he wasn't going to stop, even if he was going against the rules. He can't quite understand it but, something changed him after meeting the mysterious woman.

He placed two hands on the heavy stone doors and leaned towards them. He looked through the doors. It was a large meeting room. The large conference table was all the way into the middle of the room, but even from where he was standing, Luc could see that the chairs were empty.

'Empty?' he couldn't find anyone in the room and there were no signs of anyone present. 'The meeting's over already…'

He removed his hands from the door. He suddenly felt relieved, but the boy quickly held back. 'What was I getting nervous for? What that weird woman said couldn't possibly be true anyway…'

"Lord Hikusaak."

Luc almost shouted in surprise. Luckily he didn't because the man's voice came from within the room. The boy quickly peered into the room again.

"General Boldock. Why are you still here? The meeting has ended already…"

"The same goes for you, my lord."

Nobody could be seen from where Luc was, but apparently Lord Hikusaak was still in the room, away from his view along with this General Boldock…

"Very well… How have my collection been doing?"

"Collection…you mean your true wind and true earth rune holders?"

'That's me and High Priest Sasarai, but why is he calling us his collection?'

"There is no need to worry my lord. High Priest Sasarai has yet to suspect anything. For all these years he still believes your disguise to be your real appearance…"

"That is good to hear."

There was a short pause in the room. Luc was getting confused. He was confused not because he wasn't able to understand what they were saying. He was a child that was blessed with much knowledge and was rarely confused with anything. But now he was confused about why the two were doing the things they said they were doing.

"…the little one however…"

The general's voice once again pulled him from his thoughts. "High Priest Luc is starting to suspect something."

"He is starting to question why he isn't allowed to see High Priest Sasarai in person…but I am sure it is just his childish curiosity at work. There shouldn't be any need for concern."

Luc's heart skipped a beat. He didn't know he wasn't allowed to see High Priest Sasarai. He had always thought he would get to see him eventually.

'Why? Oh please answer him. Tell me why I can't see High Priest Sasarai!'

"Curiosity."

A chuckle can be heard coming from the voice which belonged to Hikusaak. He took a deep breath. "How can the boy possess curiosity when he isn't even human?"

'Isn't human…?'

A million questions passed through Luc's mind, but the voices inside the room interrupted him again.

"Very well."

"The boy wants to see Sasarai," there was a peculiarly mocking tone to Hikusaak's voice. "When all he had to do was look into a mirror!"

Luc was getting more confused by the moment. For some reason he felt dread towards what was about to be said next, but he couldn't keep himself from listening. What he heard next tore his life apart.

"He and Sasarai are merely clones of myself. They have the same face, same mind, and same obedience towards me. They are my puppets to hold my true runes."

Each word that was said struck Luc with such ferociousness, the boy was mortified. The next thing he knew, he was running down the hallway away from the conference room. When he reached the end he pushed the wooden door open with all his might. He didn't care anymore if he got caught sneaking in.

Nothing mattered to him anymore.

He suddenly felt so empty. Luc kept running. He still wasn't caught. The halls suddenly had no more guards. He didn't really run that far, but there she was. The strange woman in the white cloak was standing in the middle of the hall, waiting for him. Luc ran up to her. He stopped in front of her with his head down. In a defeated voice, he told her,

"Take me. Do whatever you want with me. Nothing matters anymore."

Luc doesn't really remember what happened anymore. His eyes have become blurry. A white light was starting to surround him and the woman. Beyond the circle of light, he saw blobs of people in blue uniforms shouting at them.

"Stop you witch!"

"We found her! Hurry, bring High Priest Sasarai!"

"The witch Leknaat abducted High Priest Luc!" was the last he heard before everything faded away.

. .

. .

. .

Ha ha ha, that's my explanation for where that phrase came from, "The witch Leknaat abducted Luc". It was from the third game. So what did you think? My take on how Luc found out about ebithing? Hope you liked it.


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